


Greek Tragedy

by Elsey8



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst, Eventual Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, New Game Plus, POV Akechi Goro, Persona 5: The Royal, Roleswap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:35:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29065935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elsey8/pseuds/Elsey8
Summary: The game starts again, but this time with a twist. Kurusu Akira wakes as the Detective Prince, and Akechi Goro on his way to Leblanc on probation.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Comments: 38
Kudos: 150





	1. Antigone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Antigone. Theme as it relates: Loyalty.

Goro knows something is wrong the second he opens his eyes. Not even wrong, necessarily, but definitely off. 

First of all, the past few moments are hazy at best for him. He’s definitely sitting down on a train, but he isn’t sure when he got on one. His clothes are also...familiar, but he doesn’t remember putting them on. 

He reaches up to hold his head, and it’s about then that he realizes he’s wearing glasses. He knocks them with his knuckle, then fits his fingers around the frame to take them off. Fake ones, because it doesn’t change his vision when he slides them off his nose. 

They’re Akira’s glasses, surely. Or the same type that he used to wear, at least. Goro traces a fingertip across the bridge of the nose and remembers how Akira settled them on his face that day that was so long ago. They’d felt heavy then, unnatural and uncomfortable. Akira’s eyes were much brighter and sharper without them. 

This time, he didn’t even notice they were on him until he almost knocked them off.

Actually. 

Goro pulls the jacket around his shoulders forward to peer down at it. It’s the Shujin uniform, fitted comfortably around him as if it was actually made for him. That’s why he thought he recognized it, although he has no idea why he would be wearing it. He’s never attended Shujin, nor is he even in high school anymore. The bag sitting next to him is Akira’s as well. Which doesn’t make any sense, because he hasn’t seen Akira since Maruki’s reality collapsed. That was months ago now, and Goro has no intention of seeing him. Not yet, at least. At this point, Akira should be well on his way back to his hometown anyway. 

He isn’t sure why...any of this is the way that it is. Something is wrong. 

Another shift in reality, maybe. Maybe Maruki didn’t learn his lesson the first time. 

When Goro pulls his phone out, it’s not even his. This, too, is Akira’s as he remembers it. The case is what it was when they first met, though. The crack Goro remembers him putting on it sometime after he joined the Phantom Thieves but before his betrayal is missing. 

Goro gives his arm a good pinch to make sure he isn’t dreaming and holds on tight when the phone in his hand starts ringing. No caller ID, although at this point that’s the least of Goro’s concerns. He really needs to figure out what’s going on, so he makes a calculated risk and takes the call. 

“Akechi Goro speaking,” he answers. 

“Detective my Detective!” Akira calls from the other side. 

His voice is unmistakable, after all. 

“Oh good, you know something is wrong as well,” he comments. “What do you have for me, Akira?” 

“I am currently in what I assume is your apartment. I just got off the phone with Shido, who is under the impression that I’m working for him. Are you by chance on a train?”

“I happen to be, yes. Shido--”   
“Is supposed to be in jail? I know that. Go to Leblanc, I’ll meet you there. Give me fifteen minutes.”

Akira hangs up without so much as a goodbye. 

Goro sighs and gets off the train when it stops. He’s started to orient himself at this point, and he thinks he could find his way to Leblanc from anywhere in Tokyo at this point. 

The note he found in his phone has Sakura Sojiro’s address in it, but he knows better than that. Sojiro won’t be anywhere but Leblanc at this time of day. 

Goro sits in his usual spot and waits patiently for Sojiro to see him. No recognition, just realization as he squints over at the calendar. 

“Was that today?” he murmurs. 

Something very odd is happening. 

It’s at this point that Akira walks right through the door, and he’s wearing...Goro’s clothes. Not quite, not exactly. But the structure of his usual outfits, although the color of the clothes and the fit are more suited for Akira specifically. No glasses, and Goro watches him uncomfortably duck his head until his hair obscures his eyes slightly. He tugs the gloves over his hands high onto his wrist. Goro thinks to offer him the glasses still held in his hand, but doesn’t get as far. 

“Is that the Detective Prince?” one of the customers whispers. 

Not quietly enough. Goro looks over, but they aren’t looking at him. They’re staring at Akira. 

“Kurusu Akira, right? He seems like a nice young man…”

“The attic will be fine, Sakura,” Goro tells Sojiro, and bows. “Thank you for taking care of me.” 

“Don’t speak so soon, just don’t cause any trouble.” 

Goro thinks, if he’s right about what’s going on, that he won’t be able to do that. 

“Of course not,” he says anyway. 

“Your stuff is up there already,” Sojiro dismisses. “I don’t know who your friend is, and you don’t have to introduce me, just don’t make a mess.” 

Goro smiles tightly and stalks upstairs without bothering to check that Akira is following him. He knows he is. 

The attic is a disaster, first of all. There’s junk everywhere, and everything is covered in a thin layer of dust. It’s not at all what Goro remembers it to be, and it doesn’t feel right to be here with Akira when things are so different. 

“You know what, you did a good job cleaning it up given how you got it,” Goro mutters. “Where’s the shit?”

Akira moves for him, pulling a box out for him. Then he starts to clean without another word. He rearranges some of the boxes, he lays the futon out on the crates and makes it with the sheets. He runs downstairs for a mop and starts cleaning in earnest. 

Goro sits up on the couch and watches him quietly. He sets the glasses aside and Akira takes the gloves off and puts them beside the discarded glasses. 

Neither of them speak. Akira cleans and Goro watches him. 

But when Akira starts dusting, Goro can’t take it anymore. 

“You know what’s happening,” he sighs. 

“I know...some of what’s happening. Half. Maybe more. Not all of it, though.” 

“Then explain what you know, asshole.”

Goro thinks he sees Akira’s Joker smile play on his face, but it doesn’t last long before he’s turning with something carefully neutral. 

“I restarted the game,” he says. 

He says it like he expects Goro to understand, and he thinks he might. 

“The game...I started on the train. So that means your time as a Phantom Thief?” 

“It’s not the first time I’ve done it.” Akira’s gaze flicks all around the attic. “But this is the first time something has been different like this. Without me changing anything, anyway.” 

Goro blinks at Akira, twisting his face so he hopes Akira sees how displeased he is with that. 

“Don’t look at me like that. I don’t know why I had the power either, but I messed things up a few times. Failed, I guess. Even once I got to the ending, it...I wasn’t happy with it. I tried a few more times.” 

“How many times?” 

Akira looks at him, then at the desk, then at his plant. 

“Counting the first time or no?” 

“Counting the first time.” 

“Counting failures?” 

“Let’s just start with...the ones you got outcomes for.” 

Goro watches his mouth shape around numbers. He’s counting in his head, eyes wandering as he thinks. It’s visible the way he actually has to remember, tallying up realities separated by their endings before finally tilting his head back and forth. 

“Huh, I think at least four times,” he admits easily. 

“So you fucked with my life too?”

Akira’s eyes snap back to his. He’s not wearing glasses, not that he was when he showed up either, but it’s painfully obvious here. Something about him seems sharper, all the way down to the way he’s standing. He’s standing like Goro, like being referred to as him has already changed something about him. 

“No. I wanted to save you. I wanted...to do things right. I never tried to use what I knew to control you. To control anyone.”

“Save me?”

Akira averts his eyes then. The strength in him shifts, sitting in tension in his shoulders as he crosses his arms. 

Goro feels like he can breathe again without that gaze directed at him. 

“In the engine room. What do you even last remember?”

“That?” Goro bites back a grin. “I’m not dead, but thank you for your concern.”

“Excuse me?”

Akira is glaring down at him now, unamused by his admission. It’s not as if Goro  _ never  _ intended to tell him, but he did need some time at first. That’s the truth, as best as he can sum it up.

He thought it would be hard. 

But right here and now, this feels so easy. Goro isn’t sure why he was so worried in the first place, when being with Akira has always felt so easy and natural like this. Akira makes things so easy, he’s always made so much effort so to make things that way. Goro has watched the smallest tone shifts, the way his body morphs until he is the best version of himself for whoever he’s talking to. 

Goro wonders if that was him, or just a result of...playing this game so many times. 

“I’m not dead,” Goro repeats. 

“I...heard you. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I had things I needed to deal with, and I didn’t owe it to you to come running back the second I woke up.” 

The storm in Akira visibly calms. Like he’s forcing it more than he actually feels it, though. Still, he calms down. The overwhelming pressure of his annoyance is lessened as he steps back and shakes his head. 

“I see. It doesn’t really matter.”

“Of course. Because we just need to focus on switching back,” Goro dismisses. 

“What are you talking about?” Akira looks at him curiously. “I don’t plan on trying to switch us back.” 

“Would you like to say that again?” 

Goro’s fury doesn’t seem to make Akira falter. Of course it wouldn’t, though. When has it ever? 

Goro has given fully into all the madness he’s capable of, shown Akira the ugliest parts of himself, and has only been met with something sturdy and unshakeable. 

Akira has only ever existed to match him step for step. 

“We’re not switching back. Mostly because I’m actually not sure why this switch happened. I also think changing the pieces in the game like this could bring a new outcome. I don’t see a reason to try and switch back so desperately. I’m fine with it.”

“Akira. I killed people. You’re going to have to kill people if you stay like this. Even the ones you don’t, the mental shutdowns...I feel like I need to remind you that I’m not a good person. Well I’m trying to be now, be better at least, but the me you are right now definitely wasn’t.”

“I know,” Akira says, too calm. “I don’t care. I can handle it. You can’t know all of what I’ve done, but I appreciate your concern.”

Akira sits with him on the couch, and he leans across him. Goro holds his breath when Akira gets too close, only letting it out when Akira pulls away with the journal he took from the bag next to Goro.

He flips it open and pulls the pen out to start writing. 

“I’ll need to tell you about the Velvet Room, first. That’s the most important thing, I don’t think you really know about. I’ve asked you about it before, but I don’t think you’ve ever been. You should dream about it tonight, but you can’t trust Igor, he’s an imposter. Working with him is...fine, he won’t talk to you much anyway. Not using the Velvet Room will give you too much of a handicap, I already tried it. You can trust the twins, do what you can for them, but otherwise you won’t be able to get rid of him until he reveals himself as Yaldabaoth.”

Akira is writing as he speaks, but it doesn’t help that he’s speaking far too fast and Goro has no idea what he’s talking about. He’s talking in a careful list, saying things that Goro can tell are so much more important than he can comprehend at the moment. 

Questions come to him, and he opens his mouth to ask them. 

“Don’t interrupt,” Akira says, just before he’s about to. “Listen. I’m giving you a list of places you’ll need to go and why. I’m trusting you with my list of confidants, because I assume you’ll need them this time around rather than me. Maybe I can still find my own, I’m not sure. I’ll have to wait it out a while while I figure it out. There’s a few things to be done before I worry about that, anyway. There’s so much to do. But you just need to...play my game. It’s not hard, believe me. Not as hard as it seems at first, you should have plenty of money from my last run, and I assume you have good stats. Managing it will come with time. You’ll be fine.” 

Akira starts writing faster, flipping the pages and transcribing information as he mutters it to himself. He fills out pages and pages easily, barely keeping up with his own mumblings. 

If Goro wasn’t convinced before, he definitely knows now that this isn’t the first time Akira has done this. This is something he’s gotten  _ good  _ at. 

“Then let me give you what I know, at least. Shido’s people, and--”

“No.” Akira presses the journal into his hands and stands up. “I can play it on my own.”

“What?” Goro snorts. 

Akira fixes his hair, breathing and pushing it away from his face. It’s not the first time Goro has seen him do something like that, try and tame his hair only to watch it bounce back into place. This time it goes, lets itself be pushed back and stays there. He picks up the gloves again and pulls the right one on first. All the way down his wrist, flexing his fingers until it fits over his hand like a second skin. 

“You already played your game, and it...didn’t have the best ending. I’m not you, and I don’t think I can be you. I’ll do my best to be something similar, though. Let me do things my way, and see how things play out,” Akira offers. 

Goro doesn’t think he really likes that, but he’s pretty sure he doesn’t really have the say here. 

If Akira has the power to start and stop this at will, the best he can do is go along with what he’s planning. Maybe he is right, maybe switching the pieces around will change things. 

Maybe he’s wrong, and maybe in a couple months everything will be worse and it won’t matter because Akira can just try again. 

He watches Akira put on the second glove, fitting it over his left hand and adjusting it until it’s natural. 

“Okay,” Goro agrees. 

“Is there a but there?” 

“But you’re joining the Phantom Thieves immediately. As soon as you think is possible.” 

Akira takes his glasses from where Goro set them aside and pushes them onto Goro’s face. The first time Goro remembers him doing so it was a clumsy action, the sides caught up in his hair and everything felt askew. He’d been so mad at Akira then for ruining his image, and had only been met with laughter and teasing. 

Now, the action is easy. Akira easily slides them onto his face as if that’s where they’ve always belonged. 

“Talk to me after the first time you go in with Ryuji. I can join you on the time after that, how’s that sound?” 

Goro starts to take the glasses off, but Akira pushes them back up. Goro lets him. 

“And keep the glasses. They’ll...help, a little.” 

“I see,” Goro says carefully. “I hear you. The gloves, too, they...no fingerprints. You can’t feel it as much when you shake people’s hands. It makes things easier.”

Akira doesn’t say anything specific to that, but then again he’s already put the gloves on. 

“I have to go. I have a subway accident to make tonight.” 

That’s tonight, isn’t it? Goro remembers it, and he remembers it not being hard for him considering how many times he’d already had to make just as if not worse things happen. 

It was as easy as calling up an old skill, and Loki always made things feel numb and simple. 

It never sat heavily on Goro’s conscience as one of the worst things he’d done, but Akira isn’t Goro. He said he would try to be, but it wouldn’t be the first time Akira said things just to ease other’s minds. 

“Be careful,” Goro warns him. 

“I always am.” 

That’s not comforting. Akira is giving him a smile that’s a little too laid back, like he’s forcing ease into his posture in a lousy attempt to fool him. 

There’s something a little too sharp in the corners of his mouth. 

“I mean it, Akira.”

Akira looks at him, something just slightly guarded behind his eyes. Akira pulls gloves back over his wrists, further. He adjusts the blazer he’s wearing until he sits the picture perfect image of the Detective Prince that Goro always tried to be. 

“Take care of Charley.” Akira pats the half dead plant. “He just needs some nutrients, I wrote that down too. Get them for him as soon as possible, I feel bad he’s dead at the beginning of each game.”

“ _ Akira.” _

“You don’t have to worry about me,” he assures Goro. 

With that, he’s going down the stairs to the attic to leave. He leaves Goro with a clean attic that he didn’t lift a finger to do, already pretty much as Goro remembered it being. It makes him feel slightly sick to see, how everything feel touched by Akira already even though it’s supposed to be his this time. He isn’t sure what to do with it now, though. 

Goro isn’t sure how much he believes what Akira said either, because he’s already worried. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> more aus!!! what's new tbh lmao  
> Talk to me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Gillian01430581)


	2. Iphigenia At Aulis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Iphigenia At Aulis. Theme as it relates: Weighing leadership against/with personal connections. Split duties.

Goro fits the glasses over his face as he’s still blinking sleep out of his eyes. He pulls his hair free from the sides, before getting sick of it and tying it up with the hairband around his wrist. He’s already taken to that, since his hair is longer than he’s ever kept it and he has yet to pull together the effort to get it cut. It’s starting to grow on him. 

There’s something freeing about not needing to keep up with the persona of the Detective Prince. 

That weight sits with Akira, now. It’s a burden he wouldn’t wish on anyone, but then again he thinks there will be different hardships that will come with Akira’s old role as well. 

“Kid, hurry up!” 

He could do without the babysitter, as well. He’d gotten used to being mostly on his own, aside from Shido’s orders coming in every once in a while, and reporting to him. But having someone who’s supposed to look after him every day...that’ll take some getting used to. 

Goro pulls the Shujin jacket around himself, buttoning it and tugging at the creases until it fits him neatly. His shoes are slipped on at the top of the staircase before he grabs Akira’s journal and shoves it in the bag. 

He takes the stairs slowly, still getting used to how steep and narrow they are. Sojiro is still rushing him from downstairs, even though they don’t have to leave for a while yet. 

If Goro has to listen to this nagging, at least he doesn’t have to worry about taking the train and avoiding the accident Akira is supposed to cause. 

He still isn’t sure if Akira is going to go through with it. 

He stops at the bottom of the stairs, because there’s a steaming plate of curry with coffee sitting on the table of the corner booth. 

“I thought you were closing today,” Goro comments, reaching up to adjust his makeshift bun. 

“That’s for you. I’m not letting the government get on my ass for starving you.”

_ Sakura Sojiro. Don’t ask how old he is. Call him Boss. Eat the curry and coffee and say thank you even if you don’t like it. He’ll soften up. He’ll like you. _

Goro sits down and shoves big bites of hot curry into his mouth until his whole body feels unbearably warm. It tastes good, but Goro pushes past the flavor in order to eat faster. He thinks he remembers Akira’s notes also saying not to try and wash anything down with coffee, to enjoy that separately. 

Probably. Akira wrote a lot of notes, and Goro only got to read through them three times before he fell asleep. There’s too much information in them for him to be able to remember more than some general things and whatever happened to jump out at him. 

Goro cleans up his plate and sits for a moment until the knot sitting in his chest loosens enough for him to swallow properly and drink the coffee. 

Objectively, it’s the best cup of coffee Goro has ever had. Personally, he prefers Akira’s brews. He thinks he’s going to miss Akira making him coffee a lot.

“Thank you, this is delicious, Boss,” Goro says, raising his mug towards Sojiro. 

“Whatever, kid.” 

Sojiro won’t look at him, just filling out a crossword while he stands behind the counter, seemingly waiting for him. 

What did Akira’s notes say about today, again? 

Another “confidant” he’s supposed to meet. Goro should check the journal again. 

“We’ll take my car, I’ll drive you just for today. Normally I only let pretty women in my passenger seat, so you should be grateful.”

“I’m very grateful for you taking me into your care,” Goro responds. 

Sojiro walks around the counter to take Goro’s dishes and wash them. He hardly looks at Goro, hardly shows anything but clear distaste for having to take him in. 

He’ll soften up, apparently. Goro wonders when, exactly, that’s supposed to happen. 

It’ll probably take longer than with Akira, should Goro plan for that? Will that be a problem at any point? 

Akira had written an awful lot of  _ deadlines  _ in his notes. 

Goro follows Sojiro out to his car when he starts walking out of Leblanc. He slides into the passenger seat and counts on Sojiro paying attention to the road as he flips open Akira’s journal. 

_ 4/10 - First visit Shujin Academy. Meet Kawakami(Temperance confidant), homeroom teacher. Principal doesn’t matter. Keep quiet, behave, and relax after.  _

Nothing of real importance other than meeting Kawakami, according to Akira. Although they can’t really be sure how many things will carry over in this reality. Akira said he isn’t even sure if the confidants will be the same, but for now Goro will hold onto the guide and move forward under the impression nothing will change. He knows the first few days go by quickly for Akira, the entire beginning of everything moves so fast. Things happen every day, then drop off. 

The journal has things for almost every day in the beginning, then only bigger things the further in it gets.  __

“What’s in the journal, kid?” 

Goro closes it slowly, since he’s done and he doesn’t want Sojiro to see. 

“Just some notes and such, directions and things I want to remember.” 

“That’s smart,” Sojiro comments. 

“Thanks.” 

The rest of the ride passes in silence, because Goro was told to keep quiet and behave. He isn’t sure if it applies to Sojiro as well, but just in case he keeps his mouth generally shut and stares out the window. 

Shujin Academy is exactly the same as Goro remembers it from when he visited it during their school festival. It’s not as populated considering it’s a day off, but the building isn’t any different. Goro is playing this odd game of trying to spot any differences in his memory and what he’s currently taking in, because he’s unconvinced things will stay as constant as they have been so far. 

Goro follows Sojiro through the halls to the principal’s office, although he thinks he could find his own way. 

Goro tries not to think the principal absolutely deserved the hit that was ordered on him while he’s told just how lucky he is to be given a chance here. He really was a pain, and if this is the way he spoke to Akira he really had it coming. The principal goes on and on and Goro tries to be sneaky about inspecting Kawakami. She seems tired more than anything, asking him not to give her trouble and otherwise staying fairly quiet. 

_ Kawakami Sadayo. Don’t ask her age, she’ll get upset. Homeroom teacher, communicate with her and be nice. Try not to cause more trouble than you have to. She warms up quicker if you ask her to tutor rather than come over as a maid.  _

A high school teacher with a side job as a maid, and someone he hadn’t heard a single thing about from Akira in the timeline he can remember. Of course he knew she taught here, and that there was some scandal with one of her students a couple years ago. But from Akira...nothing.

He’s started to realize Akira didn’t tell him a lot of things. He kept a lot of things to himself. 

“You’ll be fine, just don’t stir the pot too much,” Sojiro tells him when they get back in the car. 

Goro thinks about how he’ll likely at least be a member of the Phantom Thieves from the beginning, if not the Leader. He’d rather that particular role stay with Akira, but he’s not sure it can. 

“I won’t,” he says. 

He’s lying. Akira told him not to lie as much.

_ Lying too much to too many people will end badly. You’ll have too many connections to keep track of it all. Being genuine will benefit you more.  _

He doesn’t think the truth is possible here, though. It’s probably fine. 

“Those damn subway accidents,” Sojiro mutters. 

“Was there one today?” Goro asks, snapping back to attention. 

He hadn’t been listening. Did they say something over the radio? Is it already in the news? Is this faster than it happened back then? 

Goro can’t for the life of his remember this day from his point of view. 

“Yeah, just now. Traffic is jammed to hell.”    
“That’s unfortunate,” Goro comments.

Akira really did do it. Goro doesn’t remember there being any casualties when he’d done it, and he hopes that doesn’t change this time either. 

Akira is going to do a lot of things, Goro knows that. He can’t pull him away from Shido or any of the conspiracy, he can’t talk him out of settling into his role without thinking. It’s too late for that, and...well for a little while at least there’s nothing he can do about it. 

But he hopes, he really hopes that he can keep blood off of Akira’s hands. 

It’s not too late when they get back, but Goro goes up to the attic anyway. Akira had told him to rest, so he sits in bed and reads through the journal again. There are no other notes on today but he looks towards tomorrow. 

_ 4/11 - First day of school. Meet Takamaki Ann in rain, leaves with Kamoshida. Meet Sakamoto Ryuji after, end up in Kamoshida’s Palace. Late to school, get chewed out by Kawakami, don’t fight back. Get chewed out by Sojiro too. Just apologize and leave it. See Palace notes.  _

Ann and Ryuji already tomorrow, and the lack of directions makes Goro think Akira is trusting him to interact with them...by himself. Like Goro knows how to deal with Akira’s friends without him around. He always kept a mask on when he was with them before, and too much was going on during Maruki’s Palace run for something as arbitrary as small talk. 

This may be harder than Goro thought. 

_ Kamoshida’s Palace First Infiltration - dont fight the guards no need. awaken in cell(?). run w/ryuji, find and talk to morgana to leave. just leave, dont fight it. dont worry about supplies, and morgana will explain things. just hang on, ill join you for the second infiltration.  _

Akira had written notes on the Palaces differently. Goro wasn’t even sure  _ why  _ he’d written notes past the first infiltration, considering he’ll be joining them after tomorrow. But they’re different, written quicker and messier. Almost like an afterthought. Goro doesn’t have the energy to think about it, not now that the sun is down and he’s dreading tomorrow. 

Goro feels...rather alone. Which he should be used to, but after the last few months in the old reality, he started to get used to being around Akira at least. Akira took him  _ everywhere  _ at the end. 

The attic feels emptier than Akira ever kept it, and Sojiro probably wouldn’t enjoy his company at the moment. Akira’s phone only has three contacts in it, one for each of his parents and another for Sojiro. Although Goro had taken Sojiro’s contact information last night, and was told it was only for emergencies. 

Goro isn’t sure if he remembers his personal number, and he doesn’t want to call his work phone to get ahold of Akira. That thing is definitely bugged, and Goro doesn’t plan on saying anything incriminating but...still. Better to be safe about things. 

Goro is used to staying up to ungodly hours in order to move around when there are less people, slip into the Metaverse when the only people still around are too exhausted to give him a second glance. It’s...weird, not to have anything like that hanging over his shoulders. There’s nothing he needs to do right now but sleep and wake up in time to go to school. He can’t remember the last time his life was that simple. He doesn’t know if it’s  _ ever  _ been that simple. 

For the first time in...a very long time, Goro sleeps early and he sleeps well.

-

The next day, Goro is already running late. He’d failed to set an alarm and ended up needing to run out the door with hardly a few bites of curry before he decided he didn’t have enough time and making a break for it. He throws up his hair on the train, bumping elbows with the other passengers as he wrangles his messy hair into a bun. He was planning on brushing it and styling it more carefully, but things don’t like working out for him. 

Of course, this also leaves him without the umbrella he’d thought to bring since Akira remembered oh so helpfully that it was going to rain. 

He ends up flattened against a wall in an attempt to hide from the rain, cursing his lack of foresight. His hair is heavy because it’s wet, and he has to smooth back the stray strands from his face in an attempt to not look like he just crawled out of a sewer. He considers taking it down, but thinks it would certainly make things worse. 

He’s already failing to put his cheat sheet to real use. 

Ann runs past him, pressing against the wall he’s leaning against just a little further away. 

_ Takamaki Ann. Second year, 16. She’s nice, even if you’re awful she’ll probably put up with it. Feed her, take her shopping, she likes doing things together and just talking. You don’t have to do anything extra, don’t you dare put on a mask she’ll hate it.  _

“Shitty weather,” he comments. 

She smiles in his direction, then shoots a glance at the sky. 

“I don’t mind the rain, just wish I’d brought an umbrella…”

“I forgot mine,” he laments, glaring at the clouds pouring rain on them. 

“That sucks—“

Ann cuts herself off, tugging the jacket around her shoulders tighter and crossing her arms. 

The car that’s stopped right in front of them opens the window, and…

_ Kamoshida _ . 

Piece of shit. Well, he isn’t sure what he’s about to throw into chaos just by doing this, but he certainly isn’t going to just let him do whatever he wants. 

“Do you want a ride?” Kamoshida asks. 

“I’d love one!” Goro cuts in, already stepping ahead of Ann. 

He yanks open the passenger side door and sits right down, trying to drip as much rain inside as possible. 

He shoots his most charming smile Kamoshida’s way, bowing his head slightly. 

“Thank you, sir!”

“Takamaki, you want one too?” Kamoshida asks, clearly annoyed. 

Ann gets in the backseat, and Goro bites back his victorious grin as he crosses his legs and “accidentally” bumps his shoes against the dash a few times. 

Kamoshida doesn’t make conversation with them the whole way there, just drives them silently to school. Which is for the better, considering his voice makes Goro feel sick. 

When he drops them off, Goro rushes around the car to make sure he can link arms with Ann. Maybe the buddy system will help soften how much she endures? He isn’t sure exactly how much he can shield her from considering, but staying close to her should certainly help somewhat. 

Goro nods to Kamoshida, pulling the old Detective Prince charm from inside of him to give him another sheepish smile. 

“Sorry for getting caught out in the rain and troubling you,” he apologizes. “Thank you for the help, though!”

“Of course, anytime,” Kamoshida dismisses. 

He’s looking between the two of them, and Goro just tugs Ann behind him insistently until she takes the hint and starts following. 

“Don’t look back,” he hisses at her. 

Her head had been tilting back. 

He can still feel Kamoshida’s gaze burning into them as they walk away, and he doesn’t want her to give him an excuse to call them back. 

He doesn’t know his way around Shujin too well, but he manages to get inside and find a quiet enough corner that’s Kamoshida free. 

“Listen,” he starts. “We are going to stick together from now on, got it? Kamoshida called you Takamaki, yeah?”

“Ann is fine.”

“Then Goro is fine by me too. Good, nice to meet you.”

He keeps flicking his eyes back and forth. Check the door to see if anyone’s coming in from there, then check the hallway to see if anyone’s turned the corner towards them. 

“Why did you do that?”

“Because he’s clearly a pervert. I didn’t like the way he was looking at you. After school, you come home with  _ me.  _ You don’t let him rope you into anything, you’re always going to be busy, understand?” 

“I…” 

Ann bursts into tears.

“Oh shit,” he curses. 

She’s wiping at her eyes with her hands although the tears are falling at a far too rapid pace for her to stop them like that. 

He’s pretty sure making Ann cry is not how this day is supposed to go. 

“I didn’t mean to be...commanding,” he sighs. “Don’t cry, you don’t actually have to.”

“I’m okay,” she says. 

Her lip is wobbling still, but she seems to have calmed just a little. She’s even laughing softly.

“Are you?”

“Yeah. It’s just...I was surprised, that you noticed and cared. Nobody really cares, usually.” 

“I see. That’s ridiculous,” he mutters, pulling out his phone. “Unfortunately we should go to class. Lunch?”

“Can I bring my other friend too? Not that I don’t appreciate your company! I just don’t want to leave her out.”

_ 4/15 - Suzui Shiho attempts suicide. Ann will— _

“Fine by me. Go ahead to class, I’ll meet you there.”

“Do you know your way around that well already?”

He just nods, waving her off. 

He waits for her to turn the corner completely, then checks the door and the hallway to make sure nobody is around to watch him take out the journal from his bag.

He pulls out a pen, uncapping it, and he writes. 

_ 4/15 -  _ _ Suzui Shiho attempts suicide. Ann will go with her. Talk to Mishima, get into confrontation with Kamoshida. Go to Palace, bring Ann. Ann’s Awakening. See Palace notes.  _

_ Suzui Shiho will not be attempting suicide on my watch. I will figure out another way to get things rolling.  _

He’s talking to Suzui Shiho today, he’s going to bring her into his buddy system with Ann. He isn’t sure where the attention will fall after them, but if Goro has to stand in between Kamoshida and every single student in the school that’s just what he’ll do.

And he’s bringing Ann into the Palace today, come hell or high water, that’s for sure. 

Ann is in a good majority of his classes, not that he needs to keep an eye on her while there are classes going on, he’s just already getting paranoid. 

He feels impatient, glancing constantly at the clock as he listens to lectures on things he already knows, just waiting for it to be time to eat lunch. 

Time crawls along slowly, taunting him as each second isn’t any more than a second. If he takes a minute to write something he didn’t know down, it only takes a minute. 

Lunch comes along, and it can’t be soon enough. 

Ann has him follow her out of class, turning corners and moving downstairs until Shiho comes into view. 

Goro realizes he does need to get his own food, although maybe he should get into a habit of bringing his own. It seems more convenient for him that way, although just for now… 

“Hello Suzui,” he greets. “Go ahead and call me Goro, I’ll explain things in just a minute. I need to go get food, I’ll be right back.”

She smiles at him and nods. 

“Then call me Shiho!” 

He’s already raising a hand to wave slightly as he walks up to grab the last of the bread the bakery is selling. As he does, he bumps hands with none other than Sakamoto Ryuji. Who he’s supposed to bring into the Metaverse today, according to Akira. 

_ Sakamoto Ryuji. Second year, 16. Listen to him, be yourself, and try not to get too hung up on his volume. Take him to eat ramen often, and be gentle during workouts. I promise you’ll end up liking him.  _

“Do you want to split it?” Goro asks him. 

“Huh? I mean sure. You can have it if you want.”

Goro hands over the money, takes the bread and breaks it in half. He hands the bigger half to Ryuji to share it. Feeding people usually gets on their good sides. 

“Thanks! You’re the new kid, right? Do you want to eat lunch together?” 

Is it better or worse to bring both of them into the Metaverse? Should he bother with Shiho? 

She must have practice, though. That gives him time to decide on that, at least. 

He doesn’t want to completely upset the team dynamic considering, but there’s no way he leaves Shiho out of this when she deserves her just desserts more than any of them.

“Come with me, I just want to ask the people I’m eating with if it’s okay first.”

“You already made friends? That’s impressive! Oh shit, I haven’t even introduced myself. And I swore! Damn.”

“I’m Goro,” he says quietly, tearing off the hard end of the bread with his teeth first. 

“I’m Ryuji! Or Sakamoto Ryuji anyway. But you didn’t give me the option to call you by your last name so I figured.”

Goro chews angrily as they pass by the gym, then walks faster towards the doors to outside where Ann and Shiho are waiting. 

“I picked up a stray, sorry!”

“I’m not a stray!”

“Ryuji, huh...well as long as he isn’t too loud,” Ann grumbles. 

“Hello Sakamoto,” Shiho says, a soft smile on her face. 

Polite, reserved. He needs to come up with his own profile for her, Akira doesn’t seem to have one. Probably because of her being in the hospital and all, but since Goro is set on preventing that he wonders if she’ll be his confidant. He wonders if she’s going to become a Phantom Thief. He wonder what that would change. 

She seems to have responded well to him barging in, less so to Ryuji. Because she knows Ryuji? 

It is easier to have a fresh start with people than connect with people you’ve known for a long time. 

They go outside to eat, all squeezing onto one of the benches out there. Ryuji sits halfway off on his left, and on his right Ann has their legs pressed comfortably together while she eats from a bento. Shiho has her head resting on Ann’s shoulder, taking the bites offered to her but seemingly without a lunch of her own. 

Goro promptly rips his half of the bread in half again and hands the better one to Shiho.

“I’m alright,” she protests.

“Take it.”

She takes it. She watches him the whole time she takes it, like she’s waiting for him to pull it away again. 

“Goro is very adamant in his care,” Ann comments. 

“I can see as much.”

“Kamoshida is a shithead,” Goro deadpans. “Clearly there’s some bad stuff going on here, but there’s strength in numbers. See where I’m getting at?”

“But I’m on the volleyball team,” Shiho murmurs.

She’s staring at the bread in her hands like she wants to tear it apart, or maybe like she’s about to cry.

“He’s the coach of the volleyball team,” Ryuji explains to him. “He’s an asshole. And a pervert! You’d think he was the king of this damn school.”

Goro scrambles for his phone, considering at the moment he can’t remember what Kamoshida’s key words are. If he throws them into the Palace now, they’re going to have some issues. Especially if Kamoshida goes looking for Shiho after school for volleyball and finds out she isn’t there. 

“Ryuji,” he hisses.

“You’d think the whole place is his castle,” he sighs. 

The Metanav goes off.

“Fuck!” Goro curses. 

The world is distorting before he can even try to stop it, and the second he rights himself he smacks Ryuji on the back of the head.

“See what you did?” Goro shoves his phone away and looks around. “Opened your mouth...shit.”

“Where are we?” Shiho asks.

She sounds relatively calm, if confused. They’re staring up at what Goro can only assume must be Kamoshida’s Palace. A huge castle that looms over everything. 

Ryuji is freaking out, and he doesn’t know if Ann is even breathing. He wonders if they have some impressions of the other timeline, if something in them tells them this is dangerous. 

At least Shiho is calm, good. 

“I’m not sure, but I know it’s Ryuji’s fault,” he grumbles. 

“Nowhere to go but forward!” Shiho cheers, already moving ahead. 

He goes with her, barely checking to see that Ryuji and Ann follow them as well. He’s sure their instincts will tell them to follow, since splitting up is almost always ill advised. 

Everyone is quiet as they enter the castle, and Goro is pretty sure he just needs to...let everything happen as it happens. Even though he thinks he could easily get them in and out. He doesn’t have a Persona yet, and he’s supposed to awaken to one today. So however things go, he should just let it happen. It’ll be fine. 

And then he gets knocked out by a guard with a well placed hit to the back of his neck the second he walks inside.

When he comes to his head feels like it’s been split in half. He groans and considers going back to sleep. 

“Goro’s awake.” 

Cold hands press to his face and he flinches slightly away until he sees it’s just Shiho hovering over him. 

“Are you okay?” she asks. 

He watches Ryuji yank at the bars of their cell and yell at the passing Shadows. Ann is leaning against the wall, looking exhausted already. 

“Fine,” he assures her. “What’s going on?”

“Some guards brought us down here. They only knocked you out, I don’t know why.”

That is odd. Goro rubs the back of his head, though it doesn’t seem like he’s bleeding. 

He can deal with the headache as long as he’s not bleeding. Head wounds bleed too much, and losing blood in the Metaverse isn’t good as is. 

“Okay. Let’s try and figure this out, alright?”

Of course, things can’t be that easy. Why would they ever be? 

Kamoshida is standing in front of their cell already, and Goro gags.

“Ugh I hate this guy already,” he mutters. 

He counts the Shadows around him as is. It’s quite a few, too many for Goro to take on without a Persona. He knows how to defend himself without one, but he doesn’t even have a weapon. He’s far too outnumbered. 

Unfortunately, he has to let it happen. He figured he would, but he still feels anger rouse in his chest as he watches Ann and Shiho separated from them, held by two guards each. 

Ryuji is pinned to the wall, Goro simply held in place with spears to his throat.

Great, he’s here. Now what? 

His brain kicks into overdrive, looking and taking in the information he sees and trying to just figure out his next step. He can’t just let them all  _ die  _ here, before anything.

He just needs to protect them all, get them through this, but there’s an empty space in his chest where his power usually resides. 

There is a sword to Ryuji’s neck. 

He pulls at the empty space. He needs it, and he lets that conviction and anger guide him completely. He yanks at the emptiness, over and over until finally something breaks and it fills in all at once.

_ “Rise and shine, Justice.” _

The quick release of power gives him the leeway to break away from the guards, dropping low to slip between them. He rushes to Ryuji’s side, taking a shield from one of them to smash into the other as hard as he can. 

His head is pounding, but the pain hardly gives him a misstep. He’s used to worse, the pain of a Persona ripping at his brain is nothing compared to the majority of things Goro has felt in his life. 

_ “Tear them apart. Show me your own power.” _

Goro draws a sword from the downed guard, turning on the other and using all of his strength to bring it down. He hardly makes a dent, but it gives him room. 

“Run!” he barks at Ryuji. 

Ryuji doesn’t move. 

Fine enough. Goro will just have to make do, and he’ll be able to do more than that once his Persona stops  _ stalling on him.  _

Goro stands in front of Ryuji, leering at the Shadows that surround him as he clutches at his stolen sword. 

_ “Will you honor our contract this time? Will you bring your own ideal of justice to fruition? Will you right the wrongs of society by your own hand? Will you tread the path of least regrets?” _

Goro doesn’t answer. He doesn’t need to speak a single word, he doesn’t need something as ridiculous as that to feel the resolve fire up his chest. Words are nothing compared to feeling, to his own surefire determination. 

On his next blink, all he can see is blue fire. 

_ “I see. I am thou, thou art I. Call my name, use my power, and destroy them!” _

Goro slides a hand over his face. He grasps at feathers. The guards advance, and he drops the sword in an attempt to get his mask off. 

He struggles to get a good grip on his new mask to tear it off. It’s shifting in his hands, trying to change form. So he grips every hard edge and holds it together himself. 

There’s a sickly tearing noise as he yanks the mask away from his skin. 

“To me, Robin Hood!” he calls. 

He plunges his hands into flame, watching the transformation shudder across him. He hasn’t wielded a bow since he first awakened to Robin Hood, but it comes back to him easily. 

As simple as breathing in, he pulls the string taut until it brushes against his cheek. 

In sharp concentration, he breathes out and lets the arrow fly. A guard goes down. 

Again, he pulls an arrow back, watches Robin Hood move on his own to slice down a Shadow trying to run. 

And together they  _ destroy  _ everything, leaving only Kamoshida quivering in the corner. Goro considers killing him and getting it over with, but then he simply pulls the bow around his shoulder and stares down at him in disgust. 

Shiho and Ann are waiting for him outside the cell though, and Ryuji takes the keys from Kamoshida and goes to join them. So Goro doesn’t even give him the time of day to kick him while he’s down. 

He shuts the cell door with Kamoshida inside, watches in amusement as he grovels and begs to be let out even as Shiho locks it. 

“Dude what was that?!” Ryuji demands. 

“Your clothes are cool!” Ann gushes. 

That’s right, when he’d looked earlier he hadn’t seen the usual white of his princely garb. 

He reaches up and looks down to take stock of what he’s wearing. It’s not his Black Mask outfit either. 

Instead, there’s a cloak sitting around him, the hood pulled over his head. It’s pinned at his right shoulder, falling all the way to his feet. Around the shoulders he grasps at feathers. His mask is feathered too, though the base is hard bone. It comes to a fine point that hooks over the rest of his face. The rest of his clothing is loose and breathable. Easy to move in, to fight in. 

It’s something fit for a hunter. 

He certainly prefers this. 

“Let’s just try to get out of here,” he says. 

Shiho is staring oddly at him, although in general she’s seemed frazzled since they ran into the Palace leader. He only heard a bit about what happened to her in passing, by chance. 

He wonders if it’s started already, or if he can still stop it. 

“I agree. This place gives me a bad feeling,” Shiho murmurs. 

Morgana is supposed to be around here to explain things, isn’t he? 

Did Akira write down  _ where  _ exactly Morgana is? He doesn’t remember if he did. 

Goro leads them, sort of an innate way he just falls into step in front of everyone and they simply follow him. He is the one out of them with a bow and a scary monster that can kill the hostile scary monsters. He hopes Akira will take over this leadership role the next time they go in, because he really wants nothing to do with leading the Phantom Thieves. That’s not something he’s meant to do. 

“Hey, you!” 

Oh that’s Morgana’s voice alright. 

_ Morgana. He’ll explain everything, you’ll get to know him however you want considering you’ll spend the most time with him out of everyone. He is your number one to confide in, and please let him confide in you in return. Take care of him.  _

Where is he, though?

“Over here! Blondie, Pretty Boy, Twintails, Mousy! Down here!” 

“Excuse me?” Goro bursts, turning towards the cell where the voice is coming from. “Am I pretty boy? Did you just...you’re staying in the cell you vermin hellcat.”

“I am  _ not  _ a cat!” 

But the cell is already unlocked, and Morgana comes walking out in the next moment. Goro is already regretting letting him out in the first place. 

“I’m Morgana, and I’m not a cat. I’m a Persona user, just like you, Pretty Boy.”

“I’m going to lock you back up,” Goro threatens. 

“Don’t be hasty! I can explain this all to you, provide some guidance, and a way out. Don’t you dare try and lock me back in there.”

“My name is Goro, then. Can you say that, you mangy fleabag?  _ Goro _ .”

“Pretty Boy!” 

“You feral piece of shit, you little fucker. Come here, I’m going to throttle you--”

“Stop threatening our guide, Goro,” Shiho says, a hand on his arm. 

Goro takes a deep breath in, lets it out. That’s right, he needs Morgana. Or, he needs to pretend to need Morgana, rather. Even if he is being absolutely insufferable. 

Is Goro meant to put up with this every day all day from now on? 

Take care of him his entire  _ ass.  _

“Goro,” Morgana says. “You have a Persona, right?”

“You mean Robin Hood?” Goro asks, adjusting the bow over his chest. 

“Likely, yes. Good, at least you can fight. Just follow my lead.”

Unfortunately, Goro has to follow Morgana’s lead. He has to let Morgana teach him how to use his Persona and weapon as if he doesn’t know how to already. Learn about Shadows, about the Metaverse, about Palaces, all under the assumption of course that this is his first time doing any of this. 

He at least welcomes the chance to get reacquainted with Robin Hood, it’s been a long time since he used his first Persona genuinely like this. He’s getting used to the feeling of him all over again. 

“Here’s where you can exit,” Morgana explains. “Same way you got in, right?”

Goro takes out his phone and waves it dismissively. If school is already over when they get back, Ryuji is dead. But he’s more than familiar with the ins and the outs of the Metanav, and since he already has some experience he can feign being quick to catch up. He doesn’t want to stick around for another long winded explanation. 

“Thanks for the help,” Goro says. “Let’s go back.” 

The world distorts, the castle shimmering and twisting until...

They’re outside of the school, and students are leaving for the day. 

“Ryuji, if my guardian yells at me for this, I am personally blaming you entirely for this mess,” Goro says calmly. “I have to go, fast.”   
“I should see if I can make it to practice…” Shiho glances worriedly at the time. 

“Numbers first!” Ann commands. “We’re making a group chat, now.” 

Goro dutifully passes his phone around and inputs his number into the others’ as well. 

“Shiho, text me after you get out to let me know you’re okay. If not, call me,” he orders. 

“I will,” she promises. 

Shiho immediately breaks away to go to practice, and Goro watches her go with something sour resting in the back of his throat. He swallows around it and turns to Ann. 

“I’ll walk you to the train,” he offers. 

“Yeah!” 

He lets her split off with him after that, hurrying back to Leblanc. He bursts in as fast as he can, immediately dropping into a bow in the general direction of the counter. 

“I’m so sorry, Boss! I swear that won’t happen--”

“Kid, calm down. Detective Kurusu already explained everything to me.” 

_ Who  _ did  _ what?  _

Goro straightens, watching as Akira takes a sip of the coffee in front of him. He’s wearing the Kosei uniform today, although the black gloves pulled over his hands are entirely his own. 

“Yes, that the station pulled you out of school for a few questions about your probation,” Akira says casually. “I let the school know as well. I’m sorry myself, I didn’t realize it would take so long, I told them you had school.”

“Not at all,” Goro dismisses carefully. 

“How was your day otherwise?” Akira asks, gesturing to the seat next to him. “Sit, I feel like I haven’t gotten to talk to you at all since you arrived.”

“It was fine. First day of school and all,” Goro sighs. “Long. Tiring.”    
“How do you two know one another anyway?” Sojiro prods.

“Old friends,” Akira answers for them. “I didn’t think I’d see him again after I ended up here. I’m glad I ran into him.” 

“That’s right. Akira, has your number changed?”

Akira holds his hand out for his phone, and Goro watches him study the contacts in there for just a second before he’s putting his contact information in. Goro texts him and leaves it there. 

Tomorrow is supposed to be Ryuji’s Awakening, but then again Goro has already disrupted the flow of things by bringing Ann and Shiho along the first time as is.    
“I should get going now, then.” Akira stands, then looks back at him. “I’ll text you.”

He leaves just like that, like the simple appearance of him in Goro’s life was all he came to do. 

Goro eats the curry Sojiro puts in front of him, and then he retreats upstairs to check his phone. He opens the chat with Shiho first, trying to figure out from the text alone if she’s being genuine or not. 

_ Shiho: Practice was fine, I got home safe. Thank you.  _

He’s not used to reading people so easily anymore. He really hopes she isn’t lying to him. He’ll have to check on her more in the morning, when he can see her face and read her bodily. He’s better at that than tone. 

_ Ann: home safe! Let’s talk tomorrow.  _

At least those two are safe for now. At the end of the day, that’s really what matters to him. That’s what he needs to worry about for now, and everything else can wait. 

Although… 

_ Akira: when you see yaldy tonight tell him hi for me. And that the game is on.  _

_ Goro: Explain.  _

_ Akira: Who did you bring into the Metaverse?  _ _   
_ _ Goro: Ann, Shiho, and Ryuji. Now explain.  _

_ Akira: okay. Also no, just go to sleep. Talk tomorrow _

Goro sets his phone aside, and when he falls asleep he quickly becomes familiar with what in the world Akira meant about the Velvet Room. 

Two small girls stand in front of the cell he’s locked in, and in front of him is a man with a long nose. 

“I see you’ve begun your rehabilitation. My name is Igor, I’m here to help you on your journey. Already making so many connections...you’ll be quite the Trickster, yet.” 

The man’s mouth doesn’t actually move while he talks. 

“These will be your attendants, aiding you on your journey. Caroline and Justine.” 

_ Caroline and Justine(?). If they remain your attendants, just do as they ask. Defiance will only piss them off. Caroline doesn’t actually hate you, but don’t antagonize her. Ask Justine if you really need something from them, you’re more likely to get it from her.  _

That’s all well and good, but Akira failed to mention just about anything else about this place. That first day here he’d mentioned that Igor was an imposter, was actually Yaldabaoth who apparently tries to end the world at some point? 

Akira’s notes get rushed at the end of the journal, and make less sense to Goro considering he wasn’t around for it. 

“So what the fuck is going on?” Goro asks, leaning against the bars. 

“In due time, you will know.” 

“Don’t talk like that to our Master!” one of the twins barks. 

Must be Caroline. 

“Your body is safely asleep in the real world still,” the other explains. 

Justine, certainly. 

Unless Akira switched their profiles just to mess with him, an absolute possibility. 

“Simply continue on your path for now, things will reveal themselves as needed along the way.”

“Oh, one last thing. Akira says the game is on,” Goro drawls. 

Igor but maybe not looks at him for just a moment, eyes turning sharp. 

“It’s about time for you to wake up,” he says in the end. “Do not listen to everything you are told. Only you can decide your own truth.”

When Goro wakes up, he’s late for school again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay! things are in motion now how exciting is that? i know this chapter is long too and technically two days when i wanted to limit it to one, but they fit better together so! It is what it is. Anyway! feel free to come talk to me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Gillian01430581) if you want!


	3. Prometheus Bound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prometheus Bound. Theme as it relates: Resisting tyranny. Frustration and helplessness in the face of power.

Goro forgets the journal in his rush. 

He realizes it halfway through his commute, when he reaches for it in his bag only to grasp around empty air. 

He can’t do anything but curse under his breath and hope against hope that nothing too important is supposed to happen today. As far as he remembers, there wasn’t much today. THe second infiltration...he reasons that Akira will be joining them later anyway, so there can’t be too many surprises. 

He gets off the train and starts walking the rest of the way to school, a half jog in hopes that it’ll be enough to get him there on time. 

His phone buzzes, and he checks the time as he answers. 

He’s definitely going to be late. There’s no saving this. 

“Akechi Goro speaking,” he murmurs. 

“Goro,” Akira says on the other side. 

“What?”

“I’m meeting you before you infiltrate after school, understood? Don’t take no for an answer when you tell the others, tell them you already told me beforehand. Feel free to tell them I’m also a Persona user, like you. I’ll hurry and meet you by the school gates when you’re done with class. I have to go, your schedule is insane so I don’t have much more time than this. See you later.”

“Yes, but--”    
Akira has already hung up. 

Goro tries not to crush his phone when he shoves it back in his pocket and starts making a full break for it. 

He’s still late. 

He stands there quietly while Kawakami scolds him, and tries not to snap at her considering it was his own fault for missing his alarm. 

At least he still gets to have lunch with what he assumes will be the original group of them. Shiho, Ann, and Ryuji. They all squeeze onto a bench, and end up splitting Ann’s food and some vending machine snacks as they discuss yesterday in great detail. 

“Then there was that weird wind and Goro whipped out that bow and then the weird cat, and then we escaped or something?” Ryuji gestures wildly. 

“Exactly!” Ann nods. “With the weird distorty thing.” 

Shiho looks at him, and he looks back in the same confusion. 

“I don’t follow,” Shiho murmurs. 

“They aren’t making any sense,” Goro agrees with her. 

Shiho has a brand new bandage over her cheek, which she keeps itching at every time she seems to get nervous. Still, every time she does, she winces slightly. Just a slight twitch, a small giveaway to the fact that, in general, she’s probably in pain. 

He can see it in the way she’s moving, the way she’s sitting, the way she’s eating. Everything is done so deliberately in an attempt not to jostle or hurt anything. 

Not for the first time, he considers killing Kamoshida and getting it over with. He’s sure with Akira they could tear through to the end and Goro could just finish it all before things get bad. Before he has a chance to hurt anyone more than he already has. 

It would make things so much easier than this stealing hearts business, although he’s not sure how well the others would take to it. 

“I have someone I’m bringing in with us,” Goro announces. “And I have a plan.”

That quiets them down enough to turn and look at him. Shiho brushes his cheek with her hand and laughs. 

“You had a crumb on your cheek, dork,” she stage whispers. 

He blushes and listens to everyone laugh around him, although it’s not in a particularly mean way. For the first time, it does feel like a little friendly teasing when Shiho elbows his ribs in her slight laughing fit. 

He just swats her hand away and waits for everyone to quiet down. 

“Like I was  _ saying,  _ I know someone who can help us. He’s been in the Metaverse before, he told me when I spoke to him about it yesterday. Believe me in saying he’s trustworthy, he’s going to be a great help to us.” 

“Goro seems to be a good judge of character,” Shiho points out. 

“Yeah, he has so far that’s for sure!” Ryuji says. 

“I agree.” Ann taps the bridge of his glasses with a grin. “If he trusts him, I think it’ll be okay.” 

“I can’t go in after school though,” Shiho sighs. 

“Practice?”

“Practice, yeah.”

Goro watches them discuss amongst themselves, surprised. He didn’t think the Phantom Thieves would warm up to him as quickly as they did for Akira. Akira has always been good with people, genuinely. He’s always been personable, always known exactly what to say, he’s never asked for things that aren’t possible. People actually  _ like  _ Akira. 

His charisma is staggering to Goro, though that’s supposed to be his whole Detective Prince schtick. He was never able to pull it off half as well as Akira did while saying half the words he had to. 

They trust him already, and that fact absolutely floors him. 

He’s being genuine with them, as genuine as he can really manage to be, and they trust him anyway. Even though he must seem like a brick wall right now. 

He wonders if Akira will take back the Leader position he’s starting to grow into when they go back into Kamoshida’s Palace after school. He wonders how things will settle when everything is said and done. 

He wonders if they’ll have to explain more about their situation, about what kind of lies they can possibly tell so they don’t have to admit to anything like time travel or role switching. 

He doesn’t think the others would take something like that well, so he’s already decided it’s better to keep his mouth shut about it. He can handle it with Akira, he’s known for a long time that between the two of them they can do just about anything. 

“Hopefully, we’re out of that place when you’re done with practice,” Goro says. 

“Hopefully,” Shiho echoes. 

“Either way, do you want me to wait for you?” he offers, quieter. 

“I’m fine,” she insists. 

He knows she isn’t. He could list all the reasons she isn’t with sufficient evidence, he could make his case to everyone on exactly how  _ not okay  _ Shiho actually is, but he can’t. He shouldn’t invade her privacy like that in front of everyone, even though he wants to yell at her to just...just stop. 

She’s torturing herself, and he just wants to help her out of it. He knows that’s all they all want, but they’re all resigned. They feel trapped. 

Goro can’t blame that on anyone but Kamoshida.

“You can always call me if it’s an emergency,” he reminds her. “I promise, I’ll pick up.”

“I know.” 

That’s the best he can do for now. It’s the best any of them can manage. 

He finishes his classes for the day with this building dread in his throat. Usually he feels something like that settling in his chest, but this one makes him sick. As he parts ways with Shiho at the end of the day, he feels like he might throw up. 

“Where’s that guy you were talking about?” Ann asks, nudging him. 

He wants to yell at her. He considers it, for a second. He imagines turning and screaming at her that something bad could happen if they leave Shiho as she is, that she’s supposed to kill herself. 

_ 4/15 - Suzui Shiho attempts suicide.  _

It’s the twelfth. 

What is he supposed to do with that? How can he explain to all of them that this is temporary, that this could shatter in mere days?

He can’t. And it’s infuriating him. 

“Yeah the gate is swarming,” Ryuji sighs, peering ahead. “I hope he’s not stuck up in that.” 

“Pile ups are the worst,” Ann complains. 

Goro adjusts the bag over his shoulder and checks his phone. Nothing. 

Which probably means… 

Goro shoves his way through the crowd without explaining, barely controlling himself enough to not knock out the unfortunate girl who stands directly between him and Akira. 

“What the fuck are you doing?” he calls around her. 

Akira grins at him, ducking around to stand next to him, reaching for his hand before Goro yanks it away. 

“I reiterate. What the  _ fuck  _ are you doing?” he hisses. 

“I was looking for you! You were out forever ago, and I got tired of waiting so far away. Let’s get out of here, come on.” 

“You are the worst.” 

“I know! Thank you.” 

“Kurusu Akira?!” 

Goro glances between Ann and Ryuji, Akira, and the crowd of students. 

He thinks he didn’t get enough sleep for this, that Akira is the most annoying part about this game so far, and he’s screwed unless he breaks them away from the crowd. Maybe that’s a little dramatic, but Goro really hates people. He doesn’t currently have the patience to do this gently. 

He cares about his image even if he’s no longer the Detective Prince he used to be, because Akira  _ is  _ and Goro is on thin ice as is. 

“There are two ways I can do this,” Goro offers. 

“A whole two? Wow.” 

“Shut up. Two  _ viable  _ ways. Do you want a scandal or Shido on your ass?” he presses Akira. 

“Won’t a scandal get him on my ass anyway?” 

“He doesn’t give a shit right now. Believe me, he usually doesn’t. Answer the question.” 

Akira hums, eyes flicking all around in clear thought. It doesn’t take him long, he plucks Goro’s glasses off and puts them on. 

“A scandal,” he answers. 

Goro takes his hand, glances back at Ryuji and Ann in a way he hopes gets across that he doesn’t want them to follow yet. And he starts shouldering his way out of the group, Akira in tow. 

Akira laughs when they break through, and he’s the one who starts sprinting and drags Goro with him. 

Goro doesn’t know if they lose everyone, or if the glasses alone are enough to convince everyone that this is just an Akira lookalike. People have been as stupid before. He doesn’t have time to check, not before Akira pushes him into the space between two buildings, against the wall, and Goro has to realize that Akira is... _ taller  _ than he is. 

“Who’d think the Detective Prince would fool around with a delinquent?” Akira asks, breathless and grinning. 

“Good point,” Goro mutters. 

How didn’t he notice that Akira was taller? 

It’s not much, it can’t be more than an inch. Did they switch heights too? He still thinks he’s as tall as he was, but...is it because Akira is supposed to be older than him here? Is this how tall he’s supposed to get? 

Goro needs to stop obsessing over this. 

“Are they gone?” 

Goro flicks his eyes to the side, trying not to think about how close they are(close enough that Akira’s breath touches every inch of his face). 

The coast is clear, as far as he can tell. Except for the fact that, even from here, he can hear Ryuji talking to Ann about where they went. 

“They’re gone,” he chokes out. 

“Too bad,” Akira purrs. 

But he’s pulling away before Goro can ask him what the  _ hell  _ that was. 

He gives Goro his glasses back, sliding them on over his nose and tucking his hair out of the way before he’s pulling away and leaving Goro...struck. 

“Found them!” Ann calls. 

Goro takes a deep breath, then turns and nods at her. 

“Sorry, I didn’t even think,” he apologizes. 

“I have to admit I forgot I was famous too,” Akira says. 

“When you say it, it sounds arrogant.” 

Akira shrugs. 

“It’s been a hectic couple of days,” he explains vaguely. 

Akira is putting up this great act of being very nonchalant about the whole thing. His body posture is relaxed, and all his language screams that he couldn’t care any less about what’s happening. From their sprint to the way his hair isn’t quite as neatly styled down to the fact that he has his sleeves slightly rolled up. 

But his eyes are sharp. Beneath the easy kindness is calculation, a studious thing in the way he looks between Ryuji and Ann. 

Akira outwardly seems like he’s having fun, sure, but Goro can see that there’s more to it. 

“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” he prompts, nudging Goro. 

“Kurusu Akira.” He gestures to Akira at his side, then to Ryuji and Ann. “Sakamoto Ryuji and Takamaki Ann.” 

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us your secret friend was the Detective Prince!” Ann yells immediately. 

“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me your new friend was a model,” Akira says right back. 

“Are we going to the Palace?” Ryuji asks him. 

Goro thinks he’s definitely going to get tired of the whole team...friends thing very fast. 

He’s already exhausted. He forgot the stupid journal, he feels like he hardly slept at all, Akira is being as weird as always, and now they’re about to go into the Metaverse. 

Socializing is at the bottom of his list of priorities. 

Goro glances back at the school, and he hopes Shiho will be okay. 

“We should get going as soon as we can,” he agrees. 

He’s already pulling his phone out to tap on the history to bring them into Kamoshida’s Palace before waiting for a response. It occurs to him only after they’ve gathered themselves back together that he probably should’ve given them more warning than that. 

It’s odd to start from zero again, when he’s so used to an entirely put together team. 

“Your clothes,” Akira blurts, to his left. 

He turns, then doubles back to actually  _ look _ .    
“ _ Your  _ clothes,” he says back, gesturing. 

Akira isn’t wearing anything close to his usual Joker garb, and actually Goro would hardly recognize him if not for the fact that his mask has certain hints of it. The overall color scheme and pattern on the mask is the same, even if it hooks into more of a beak, and extends further upward to curl around his head. A section even climbs up to form an imitation of a horn, splattered oddly red against the regular black and white colors. 

Then past that...the Joker costume is gone. In its place is something a lot more like Goro’s old Loki getup. Even then, it’s different 

The tattered cape is something he never had, the stripes are differently patterned, and the whole thing seems like two pieces rather than one. Overall, the colors are black and white, closer to  _ Joker  _ and  _ Loki  _ than the Black Mask. 

He studies Akira, and waits patiently as Akira studies him in turn. 

“Okay,” Akira says. “I see.” 

“They both look so cool, what the hell?” Ryuji groans. 

Akira’s eyes flick to the side, but not to the other two. A spot behind him, and when Goro turns to look he sees the twins leaning casually against a blue door. He feels hot where Akira is watching him, his skin prickling uncomfortably. 

“Are they already there?” Akira asks him, quietly. 

“Is that unusual?” 

“Look at me.” 

Goro looks. 

Akira’s hand comes up in front of his face, and he tugs at the edge of his mask until it peels off. His outfit flickers for a moment, to something that looks fancier and more garish, but then it stays. 

Arsene materializes behind him, predictably. Good, Goro was fairly worried that Akira was going to try and bulldoze the place with Loki. Taking things more careful like this should help, and this way they don’t need to come out with everything at once. He can only imagine how disastrous it would be if Ryuji and Ann had to find out this early about everything. 

“Arsene was my first Persona,” Akira says, stepping aside. “But his ideals no longer match mine. I have outgrown the point where I deserve to hold onto him.”

There’s no more warning than that before Arsene’s form shivers and shudders into a mask and slams full force into his own. For a second, the sensation is wrong and it borders on painful as everything shifts to fit around everything else. He gags on the power itself, the way his body creaks to try and adjust to it. 

But then it settles, and Arsene sits warm in his chest alongside Robin Hood. 

“What the fuck what that?” he demands. 

His chest feels heavier, and he hears Justine and Caroline call for him, but he keeps his eyes on Akira. 

“A gift,” Akira says vaguely. 

“Your Persona. A gift. How did you even... _ why  _ would you even do that? Akira, I understand that you know much more about this than I do, but you can’t just do these things without talking to me first.” 

Akira looks at him, something far away in his eyes. He glances at Ann and Ryuji, and Goro knows that's the end of that conversation whether he likes it or not. 

Not only is he unwilling to speak about it in front of those two, but Goro honestly doubts he’ll be getting an answer on it later either. Akira seems to enjoy very much being mysterious and vague in all facets of this situation they’re in. 

“I am solely responsible for the mental shutdowns that have happened the last few years,” Akira says. 

Goro’s stomach drops, and he feels sick. His head swirls as much as he knows that’s not really true since those were  _ his  _ original actions. Akira may be paying for them now, but it wasn’t really his hands that committed the crimes. 

It still feels so sudden, so disorienting. 

Ann laughs softly, unsure. 

Ryuji doesn’t say a word. 

Goro watches Akira for his next move, unwilling to contribute to the convoluted game he’s started. He tries not to betray too much of the turmoil inside him, straightens up and just waits. 

“I am working for a man named Shido Masayoshi. He is my father, and I started initially doing hits for him to gain his favor. Although I’ve wanted to get some sort of revenge on him, this wasn’t...the way I imagined it.” Akira holds his hands up, placating, when Ryuji opens his mouth. “I made a mistake while blinded by rage, and that’s my fault. But I’m not here to hurt anyone, I’m not here to hinder or stop you. I just want to help, now. If you’ll...accept that, even after what I’ve done.”

Goro blinks a few times, trying to soothe the hurricane that’s kicked up inside of him. Is this how Akira views what he did? That he was dissatisfied with his plan, that it was a mistake, that...he was genuine, in his later actions? Does Akira truly think this way? 

Goro wants to ask now, but knows he can’t. He doesn’t know if Akira would even answer him on something like this. Akira doesn’t seem to like answering him on a lot of things, as secretive as he’s been so far. 

“You’re double crossing him?” Goro prods. 

“That was always the plan, of course. If I can do as much and aid you at the same time, it’s all the better,” Akira dismisses. 

“I don’t know enough about any of this to…” Ann shakes her head and sighs deeply. 

Ryuji doesn’t say anything still, looking to the left of Akira’s face. He could be thinking, or seething, Goro can’t quite read that blank expression on his face. 

“He could be a lot of help to us,” Goro points out. 

Neutral, he has to be neutral and let Ann and Ryuji form their own opinions about this. He won’t move forward without them all in true agreement. 

Especially considering he wasn’t consulted on this. 

“Isn’t it dangerous to trust him now?” Ryuji asks, eyes hardened. 

“The Persona gift might’ve been like a hostage,” Goro says, touching the edge of his mask. “Insurance for us.” 

Akira nods slowly, a slight tension in his face relaxing. 

“I--”

“Did you kill those people?” Ann asks. 

Her voice is still slightly airy, tinged with confusion and indecision. But her question doesn’t betray that fact at all. 

“I did,” Akira says. 

“Were...were they like Kamoshida?” Her voice gains strength halfway through this time. “Did they deserve it?” 

“Some of them. A lot of them.”

“Then I trust him,” Ann says. 

“Just like that?” Ryuji crosses his arms. “He...killed people. And hurt a lot more.” 

“He’s barely older than us. And he  _ told  _ us. He didn’t have to tell us anything, he could’ve just used us and we wouldn’t have had any idea. Clearly he’s taking a risk by putting trust into us too.” Ann nods to herself, shoulders set. “I trust him. Until I have a reason not to.”

“Well, I don’t trust him. But I am willing to wait and see,” Ryuji gives. 

“We’re all in agreement then,” Goro says. “Are we ready to proceed?”

With that, they dive back into the Palace. 

It’s uncanny how much Akira seems to remember, able to navigate the twists and turns fairly easily. He knows which way they need to go to make progress, he knows every hidden secret and more. 

He knows where Morgana is, even though he comments quietly that it’s different than usual. 

And then Ryuji pulls out the model gun he brought, trying to shield it from Akira as he hands it to Goro. 

He sort of listens to what Morgana tells him about cognition and Shadows, but he gets the gist. It handles like a real gun, or close enough that he can’t tell the difference at least. 

The next Shadow they knock down starts pleading with them, a small Pixie that Goro isn’t sure how they didn’t decimate immediately. 

Akira slides up to him, helping him steady the gun to aim fatally, and he whispers, “Don’t hold back.” 

“It’s too bad,” Goro laughs shortly. “You chose the wrong enemy.” 

Except the weakling Pixie doesn’t lay down and die, no, she transforms into a mask to somehow join his growing team, sitting somewhere behind Robin Hood in his chest. 

“This is the power of a Trickster,” Akira tells him, backing away. “I knew you had it in you.” 

Goro drops his arm, and listens blankly to how cool the others insist he is, especially Morgana marveling at him having such a power. 

He feels somewhat bitter over it.

“Let’s move on, alright?” Goro interrupts. “There’s a lot more of this place left, I believe.”

Except, with his luck, of course the next room would open up into a huge hall with Kamoshida looking down on all of them. He curses through his teeth, but doesn’t get halfway to tearing his mask off before a shield slams to his back. 

Goro grits his teeth against the ringing that sounds through his mind, squeezing his eyes closed as he’s pinned harshly to the ground by a Shadow. He tastes blood in his mouth, and his body aches as it is from trying to keep up with Akira this whole time. 

He was never as agile as Akira, and that agility hasn’t swapped between them, leaving Akira swinging from rafters and swiping treasure chests that he could never hope to reach. It’s even more than before, a physical prowess over him that’s left him bitter and easy to annoy. 

Akira is pinned beside him, but he doesn’t seem worried. Just that alone tells Goro this is unavoidable, even if it sets fire off in him. These big open rooms  _ always  _ end like this, and it’s starting to get on his nerves. 

Ann is being held back not quite as violently, probably seen as less of a threat than the two of them since she doesn’t have a Persona yet. 

Even Morgana is being held down, and it only leaves Ryuji to stand apart from them. 

Goro wants to press his face into the floor and wait this whole thing out, not have to get his ass saved by  _ Ryuji _ of all people. 

But still. 

Ryuji is standing there, as dumbstruck as when Akira admitted he was a murderer, in front of Kamoshida. 

And Goro actually recognizes that look on his face, that fear and indecision and hatred that’s been beaten back so many times it should be dead. But it keeps getting up, and Goro watches the ire pounding behind Ryuji’s eyes, and he knows it’s time to tip it over. 

Something in him says... _ he  _ could be the one to tip it over. 

“Are you really going to let him keep controlling you?!” he shouts out. “Are you actually going to take that shit lying down?!” 

Ryuji looks towards him, and Goro feels extremely satisfied as fear is replaced with fire. 

_ “You’ve made me wait quite a while.”  _

Ryuji yells out, that discordant note of pain present in the power that courses through him in a single instant. Past the grimace on Ryuji’s face, there’s a grin. 

Goro knows, he feels that way an Awakening is all about being alive. Actually feeling that life brimming up inside. 

_ “You seek power, correct? The ability to protect here and now. Then let us form a pact.”  _

Ryuji falls to his knees, a hard thump in the otherwise nearly silent room. He hardly stays down for a moment before he’s trying to stumble back to his feet. 

_ “Your name has been disgraced already, has it not? Why not hoist the flag and wreak havoc? The ‘other you’ who exists within desires it thus...stand up.”  _

Ryuji gets both feet back flat on the ground and stands on them, though he still seems shaky. He stays stubbornly up. 

Goro watches the flames ripple across Ryuji’s face, coming away only to leave him masked. 

_ “I am thou, thou art I. There is no turning back, cast aside your regrets. The skull of rebellion is your flag henceforth!”  _

Ryuji’s fingers dig underneath the mask, and Goro finds himself laughing at the spray of blood as it’s torn off. He can feel the way the power fills the room, the manifestation of Ryuji’s Persona behind him, the manic grin on his face as he looks down at himself. 

He’s been watching them fight all day, and Goro saw how much he was itching to join in. 

“Right on!” he laughs, flexing his fingers. “Wassup Persona? This fucking rocks…” 

Goro feels the slight static of electricity graze off his back, just before the guard holding him down disappears and lets him up. 

“Are you ready for this?” Goro prompts. 

“Of course! Captain Kidd and I are gonna blast them away!”

“I’ve got your back,” Goro promises. 

Akira falls into place at his left easily, and he feels Morgana’s healing soothe his injuries. 

He doesn’t need to do much though, although the simple presence of him and Akira leaves very little to be worried over. 

Ryuji absolutely decimates the Shadows they fight, all weak to electricity as they are. It sets them up for their first All Out Attack, which Akira looks downright gleeful over. 

That’s familiar, if a bit messy for their first time. Goro bumps into Ryuji twice during it, but at least they have fun and the Shadows drop dead anyway. 

“Let’s get out of here,” Akira says, reaching for Ryuji when he starts swaying. 

Ryuji backs away from him, and Goro watches the confusion flicker in his eyes then disappear. 

Goro puts Ryuji’s arm around his shoulder instead, letting Akira guide them out of the Palace himself. 

It’s not too far, not with the shortcuts Akira has them taking, and the way he tears through every Shadow they come across. 

They all come to stand outside the Palace in an exhausted huddle. 

“We should use codenames in the Metaverse,” Morgana says, standing between them and the exit. 

Goro considers just going around him, blowing past him because he just wants to get them all out of here and resting. But Akira looks at him disapprovingly, as if he knows what he’s thinking. 

“I’ll be Crow,” Goro sighs. 

“Actually, I think we should stray away from anything too on point,” Akira points out, hand coming up to rest on his chin. 

It’s a mirror of a gesture Goro used to use a lot, and it’s more than weird to see Akira now adapting it. 

Akira saying something like that, with that kind of body language can only really mean one thing. 

“Do you have an idea, then?” 

“I think we should do Greek themes,” Akira says. “It would be good if we all went along the same line and kept things clear but not obvious.” 

“Out with it,” Goro snaps. 

“I’d like to be Icarus,” Akira says, voice curling around the words in a growing grin. “I think Goro would fit Apollo well, because of the archery images and such. Morgana could be Charon, as our guide. And Ryuji’s pirate theme would go well with Argo.” 

“Don’t call me Ryuji,” Ryuji scowls. “But...whatever. I’m fine with that, I guess.”

“It works for me,” Morgana agrees, sounding just a little too happy with himself. 

Goro looks Akira up and down, trying to determine if there’s anything actually important about this or if Akira is just bored. He seems to enjoy stirring the pot a bit much, though so far it hasn’t messed them up too much. Even if Goro can’t see what the meaning to it is, it seems to amuse Akira and it hasn’t actually hurt them yet. 

Actually, a few things Akira has done to rearrange things seem to be helping them. 

Goro wonders if he knows at this point what he can and can’t do. He wonders just how many times Akira has played this game. 

“Fine,” Goro gives, a bit hesitant. 

He knows there’s a lot that Akira isn’t letting on still, that there’s more to everything than Goro can see right now. Akira could have a hidden agenda for all he knows, he could...there’s too much Goro doesn’t know right now. 

But for right now Goro can’t do much aside from agree and say they should go back. 

Akira is the one to return them to the real world, pulling out his phone with barely a whisper.

“Sorry,” Ann says, the second they return.

“Why?” 

Goro isn’t sure who asks first, all their voices overlapping one another’s to poke at Ann’s seemingly random apology. 

“I was pretty useless today, wasn’t I?” She folds her hands in front of her and bows slightly. “I’m sorry, I must’ve been getting in the way.”

Goro stares at her, then pulls her up with one hand, guiding her until she’s upright again. He puts a hand on either of her shoulders so she’ll look at him and shakes his head firmly. 

“That’s not true,” he argues. 

“I didn’t do a single thing in there.” 

“It doesn’t make you useless,” he insists.

She refuses to look at him again, turning her eyes downward to avoid his gaze. She looks...tired, and maybe a little bitter. 

“Just a burden, then,” she laughs, though the sound holds little amusement. 

“Ann…” Ryuji puts a hand on her shoulder, brushing where Goro’s sits as well. “You’re not a burden, come on.” 

“You’re more than  _ power _ ,” he tells her firmly. “You are enough on your own, stop this nonsense.” 

Ann looks at him, perhaps a bit unconvinced. But she doesn’t argue again. She just leans a little more into Ryuji’s space and nods. 

“I’ll walk her back,” Ryuji offers. 

Goro moves away from her, letting her shift with Ryuji. 

“Okay,” she murmurs. 

“That’s probably for the best,” Akira says. 

He reaches up, as if to adjust glasses that aren’t there, then stops himself halfway. He stares at his hands, glances at Goro, then just scoffs to himself. 

He doesn’t even say goodbye when he turns and starts walking towards the trains too. 

Goro leans against the wall of the alley they landed back in. He breathes in, then lets it out. In for four seconds, hold for seven, let out for eight. 

Then again. 

He slides down on the wall, dropping his bag to the side and curling up a little more as he continues to breathe. His head is pounding, and his chest feels heavy. 

He can still feel where Arsene is sitting. It feels almost unnatural, too uncomfortable as Akira’s Persona shifts inside him incessantly still trying to settle. 

He presses a hand over his chest and feels his heart beat, the way it starts to slow as he keeps breathing. 

And then his phone rings, his heart giving one last pound to his chest before he scrambles to pick it up. 

“Akechi Goro--”

“Goro, finally. I need you.” 

Shiho’s voice is almost too quiet over the phone, crackling with heavy breathing and hiccuping on a slight sob on her next exhale. His heart drops, the slight calm he got from breathing exercises disappearing at the simple sound of her voice. 

“Where?”

He stands, pulls his bag back over his shoulder as he hovers at the exit of the alley. What’s the fastest way back to the school? That must be where she is. 

“School...I’m still in the office.” 

“Which office?”

“His.” 

Kamoshida is  _ dead.  _

No. Goro is going to keep his temper, and not go flying off the handle and mess everything up when it’s been going so well. He can’t...he wants Kamoshida dead. He would deserve it, more than anyone else. 

If he laid a hand on Shiho, Goro doesn’t know what he’s going to do. 

But he said he wasn’t going to kill anyone, he’s supposed to to play his role well and right. It’s fine. No matter what, he’s going to get to her anyway. 

He’s moving, school isn’t too far away at this point and he knows exactly where to go. His research of the school had come up with exactly where Shiho must be, the office everyone avoids walking past because it’s more often than not…

“I’m coming,” he promises. “Stay put, and stay on the phone.”    
“I tried calling you...I forgot you were in the Metaverse. I thought you’d forgotten about me.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry Shiho. I’m coming.” 

“I tried to call anyone when he wanted to see me after practice, but nobody picked up. And then after. I’m sorry, I called you a lot. My phone was almost dead, I was scared. You promised you’d answer.” 

It’s a bit later in the day, and Goro doesn’t run into anyone as he bursts back through the school doors and goes to Kamoshida’s office. 

He hangs up just before he opens the door, and then he closes his eyes. 

He clenches his jaw, breathes. In for four, hold for seven, out for eight. It’s a waste of nineteen seconds, but he needs to. He needs to, or he’s going to do something he regrets. 

His eyes sting a little, but he refuses to let himself cry in front of her while she’s like this. He won’t be weak when she needs the strength so desperately. 

“Goro?” 

He opens his eyes, takes off his jacket, and kneels beside Shiho to pull it around her shoulders. 

“I’m here,” he tells her empty eyes. “I told you, you can always call me. Sorry I...sorry I couldn’t get here earlier.” 

He’s such an idiot. He should never have left her here alone, he never should’ve gone into the Metaverse, he...he broke his stupid buddy rule system and left her alone with him. Like he wasn’t going to do whatever he pleased, Goro’s plans were damned from the start. 

She curls up more, pressing her back further to the wall as she closes her eyes and cries harder. 

“Why me?” she whispers. 

“I don’t know, I’m sorry.” 

_ 4/15 - Suzui Shiho attempts suicide.  _

Why her? Why couldn’t it be someone Goro doesn’t have to care about? Some faceless victim they could still get angry for, a nameless martyr for them. 

Instead Suzui Shiho sits in front of him, crying because he wasn’t fast enough. She’s gripping his jacket tightly around her, covering where her clothes no longer do. 

Yet, how would it be better if it were someone else? The act itself, it…

Goro feels sick. Why anyone? 

Why does Kamoshida have to be here, of all places? Why does he have to be this way? 

How can someone be so despicable? 

“Come on, let’s get you up,” he says. 

She looks up at him like he’s asked something impossible of her. 

Goro thinks of holding a hand out, then simply wraps his arm around her middle to hoist her up. 

She favors her left leg, so he moves to her right side to help her walk as best he can. She holds onto him so tight it hurts a little, but he stands tall for her and walks slowly with her, one step at a time, out of this godforsaken place. 

“I need to...scream,” she tells him, once they’re outside the gates. 

He glances around at the slightly busy streets, at the state of Shiho, and judges just how far Leblanc really is from here. 

He pulls her into the alley he had half a breakdown in and pulls them back into the Metaverse with a tap, keeping Shiho on her feet through the shift. 

But once they’re through, she pushes him away and falls to her knees. 

Kamoshida’s Palace looms above them, and she presses her forehead to the ground and screams at what must be the top of her lungs. It can’t be anything else, since the sound hurts his ears, pierces through the still air, full of pain and fury. 

Shiho loses steam quickly, breaking into a sob at the end of it, voice hoarse. She pants for a moment, then screams again at the same volume, with more effort pressed into it to keep it going. 

She has curled up completely in place, and she just keeps  _ screaming _ . The sound hurts his ears, it hurts his hearts

It takes a few times before he can even begin to make out that she’s  _ speaking.  _

“I wish I never came to this school! I wish I could feel anything right now! I wish he never so much as looked in my direction! I wish I never had to see his face again and know what he did to me! I wish...I wish he would fucking drop dead for all I care!” 

He kneels beside her, unsure if he should even try to comfort her when she seems more than inconsolable. So he just stays where he is, and tries to catch her eyes even as curled up as she is. 

“Shiho?” he whispers. 

“I wish I couldn’t still feel him! My skin is on fucking fire, I can still feel it crawling!” she shrieks. 

He isn’t sure if he’s allowed to touch her, so there he hovers. He’s terrified of making it worse, even though he aches to offer her something, anything. 

“What are you going to do?” he asks. “What do you want to do now?” 

“I want...him to  _ burn _ ,” she murmurs. 

_ “So you’ve decided to tread the path of vengeance and fury...I see. We must form our pact at once.”  _

Shiho winces, holding her head as she stumbles back to her feet. It seems like she’s still in pain, but it hardly seems to bother her. 

He watches her rise and feels his shoulders relax. 

Shiho is stronger than she’s ever been given credit for, and he feels guilt flow through him as he sees that he vastly underestimated her. 

_ “You have been wronged by man’s sins. You have been a victim to something ugly. You have earned your wrath. You have earned your revenge. Take it.”  _

Shiho widens her stance to stand straighter, stable and strong. 

She turns her head and just smiles at him. 

_ “I am thou, thou art I. Punish him as you will. From this moment on, you are the judge, the jury, and most importantly…” _

Shiho tears the phantom style mask from her face in a blaze that burns brighter than any Goro has witnessed himself. 

_ “The executioner!”  _

There’s nothing nearby for Shiho to rip to shreds though, she just stands there looking up at the castle. 

Her outfit is full black, leaving her bathed in darkness. Her collar sits high, the long coat fits snugly around her waist then flares out. It falls just short to reveal the rather large platform boots she’s wearing, elevating her to about his height. She has a scythe slung over her shoulder, flames licking at the sides of her face although the heat doesn’t seem to bother her. 

“Okay,” she says, glancing back at him. “I’m ready to go back.”

She doesn’t seem any more tutored than she was before as he guides her into the train. She rests her head lightly on his shoulder for the majority of the ride and continues holding on even when they get off and Goro brings her through the backstreets. 

Goro holds the door to Leblanc open for Shiho, letting her walk in first although he quickly steps in front of her once they’re inside. 

He lets her hide behind him even though she doesn’t need to, just so nobody else needs to see her the way she is. 

“Kid?” Sojiro asks, squinting at him. 

“Bathroom,” he explains. 

He ushers Shiho in, locking the door behind the two of them as she sits on the floor heavily and just stares up at him. 

“What’s the story?” she whispers. 

He shrugs helplessly. 

“Is he trustworthy?”

“Kind of? I don’t know him well yet,” he hisses. 

“Kids, get out here!” 

Shiho’s eyes get more panicked as she looks back at the door. 

“Can we tell him the truth? I don’t exactly trust adults.” She gestures wildly. “No one has ever done anything before, I doubt he can.” 

“But he could still help,” he reasons. 

“Open the door,” Sojiro says, knocking much softer this time. 

“Just get it over with,” Shiho sighs. 

Goro opens the door sheepishly, looking up at Sojiro and hoping against all odds that this is the right choice. 

He feels his heart beat incessantly in his chest as he waits for Sojiro’snreaction. 

“What happened?” Sojiro asks. 

He sounds neutral, and it has Goro turning back to Shiho to see what she wants to do. She’s struggling to stand, so he goes back to help her up. She leans heavily against him, tugs his jacket closer around her, and just looks. 

Sojiro looks back at her, and Goro sees when he sees it. 

“Ah...do you want me to call the police?” 

“Absolutely fucking not,” Shiho spits, then turns away. “Sorry. Please, I’d rather you didn’t. I doubt they’d do anything now, it’s not like they have before.” 

“Please. I want her to feel safe here, don’t call them against her will,” Goro pleads with him. 

“I wouldn’t do that, calm down.” Sojiro raises his hands and backs away from the doorway. “I’ll go get the doc, though. Is that okay?” 

_ Takemi Tae. Doctor at the clinic. She’s a little shady, but she’s going to save your life. She’s where I got most of our Metaverse medicine. Her experiments aren’t actually dangerous, you’ll live.  _

“We can trust her,” Goro assures Shiho. 

“That’s fine,” she murmurs. 

And so Sojiro leaves them. 

Shiho breaks away from him to start rifling through the cabinets behind the counter, and at this point Goro just lets her do whatever she wants. He keeps an eye on her to make sure she stays standing, but otherwise leaves her be. 

And then she pulls a knife out. 

“Shiho!” 

He lunges forward and takes hold of her wrist, squeezing until the knife clatters to the floor. She looks at him curiously. 

“I want to cut my hair,” she says, like he’s the stupid one here. 

“With a fucking knife?!”

“I didn’t think there were scissors around,” she hums. 

“I’ll get scissors, it’s...please don’t do that. You scared me.” 

“Why?”    
He shakes his head, reaching down to pick up the knife and put it back. His heart is pounding, and he slows his motions so he doesn’t have to turn back to face her too quickly. 

“Do you want to cut your hair tonight? I don’t think there are hair cutting scissors here but we can make do,” he offers. 

“I would like to, yeah.” 

The bell above the door rings, and Goro takes in the sight of Doctor Takemi in the doorway before she’s through and guiding Shiho to sit down so she can look her over. 

“Can we not talk about this tonight?” Goro asks Sojiro. 

“Must’ve been a long day, I get it.” Sojiro crosses his arms. “But I’d like her to stay here tonight, and we do need to talk about it eventually.”

“That’s more than agreeable, thank you. And do you have scissors good for hair cutting around anywhere?”

Sojiro looks at him with something knowing, and he nods. 

“I’ll be right back,” he promises. 

Goro sits at the counter, at his usual spot, and he watches Takemi prod at Shiho’s knee. She doesn’t seem to be asking many questions of her, although Shiho is still talking very slowly about her pain. 

Sojiro is in and out with the scissors, and Takemi doesn’t ask too many questions to Shiho before she’s leaving them alone too. 

At the end of it, they’re alone in Leblanc. Goro is inspecting the scissors Sojiro brought them, and Shiho is reading the label on the painkillers Takemi gave to her. 

He takes her up to the attic, laying a tarp out beneath them and letting her sit on the chair from the desk. He brushes her hair out carefully, gently. He tucks it all back, trying to judge where he should cut. 

Down like this it falls to her mid back, curling around the bottom of her shoulder blades with the longest point stretching just slightly further down her spine. 

She reaches back to pull her hair back slightly, gathering it up like she’s going to put it up. And then she takes the scissors he gave her to  _ hold  _ and saws through the mass. 

It falls back to sit just above her shoulders choppy and uneven. 

She gestures to her cheeks, drawing a line across to her hair. 

“I want it here,” she says. 

He laughs, taking the scissors as she hands them to him. She just smiles back at him widely, more relieved than happy. Still, that’s progress from earlier. 

He cuts her hair carefully and quietly, watching as each strand disconnects and falls to the floor. Shiho is still holding onto the majority of it that she chopped herself, fingers clutched around it in her lap. 

Neither of them speak, not until Goro is brushing the stray hair from her shoulders and telling her she’s good. She doesn’t stand up right away, stares at the clump in her lap and just sighs. 

“Yeah. I’m ready,” she murmurs. 

She drops it to the ground with the rest and stands. 

They get changed to sleep just as quietly, Shiho borrowing from him what she can and him setting aside her old clothes to wash or burn depending on how she feels in the morning. 

They climb into his makeshift bed, together. He’d much rather sleep on the outside, but he lets her anyway in case she needs to get up at any point. 

He doesn’t want her to feel trapped. 

“Thank you,” she says. “I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.” 

Every time Goro blinks he sees the words on that stupid journal page. 

“Of course. Anytime, please.” 

She takes his hand, holding it between her own gently as she breathes. 

Above her head floats a card, which shatters the moment he looks at it. 

_ Suzui Shiho, The Tower. Rank 1.  _

The Tower? 

Goro looks at Shiho head on, and smiles placatingly when her gaze on him turns worried. 

“Let’s go to bed,” he offers. 

“Yeah...it’s been a rather long day,” she reasons. 

“Goodnight Shiho, I hope you sleep well.” 

“Goodnight.” She slides under the covers comfortably and nods. “I hope so too.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the patience with this chapter! It was rather long and went through several reworks before I was really happy with where I got it, so I hope you enjoyed!


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